Diagnosis
by vitruvian-woman
Summary: Late on the eve of June fourth, Mitchell Quintana was admitted into the Thames Psychiatric Hospital by his college roommate. Diagnosis: delusional.
1. A mysterious patient

**Just the prologue for now, I'm afraid. So, yeah. This totally came to be on a whim. But I know it will be amazing. At least I hope it will be.**

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><p>Patient 1, retrieved from London, England. Mitchell Quintana was admitted by his college roommate to the Thames Psychiatric Hospital on the eve of June fourth. Diagnosis: delusional.<p>

"He's been talking like this for a while now…" His roommate said, scratching the back of his neck and looking sideways. He was a young brown-haired boy with glasses and brown eyes. "He keeps telling me to call him by these weird names… and sometimes he pretends to do magic, except I can't see anything, usually just a hat or something."

"Well. I see." The nurse attending the front desk tapped her pen against her chin. "Does he act a lot different?"

"Yeah. It's almost like a he has a split personality. Sometimes he can be really quiet, and then other times he's a lot louder and kind of harsh." The boy says, before adding, "Oh, and he can dance a lot better now. I don't know why, but he kept doing all these leaps and jumps and it really freaked me out because he'd never been able to do that before."

"Well, Mitchell certainly seems to fit the case. We'll be keeping him for now, to see if he can be treated." The nurse said, smiling with too many teeth and made a shooing motion with her hand. The boy thanked her and walked out of the building, brows furrowed.

X

"Mitchell?" The head nurse of the hospital, Nurse Graves, asked, silently opening the door to his room. The room had another bed, but no patients were currently using it.

Mitchell looked up from his bed, scowled and said, "Don't call me that."

Nurse Graves smiled and sat down on the bed opposite his, pen poised above her notepad. "I was merely going to ask you a few questions, so I could make a… chart, if you will."

"Ask away." He answered. Mitchell was sitting, legs folded up against his chest and arms wrapped around them, facing away from Graves.

"Just let me write down the basics…" She muttered, before saying, "What would you like to be called?"

"Right now?" Mitchell asked. "Right now I'm Mistoffelees."

"Yes, how do you spell that?"

"M-I-S-T-O-F-F-E-L-E-E-S."

"Alright, and how about what you would like to be called at all other times?" Nurse Graves said, confused as to how she would be able to tell what she should call him.

"At _all other times_ I'm Quaxo." Mitchell said, using her formal language, almost mocking her.

"How do you spell that?" Graves said, feeling much like a nuisance for not being able to spell his name.

"Q-U-A-X-O."

"Well, at least it's not as long as your other name."

This was met with silence, until Mitchell said. "Quaxo isn't my name." He sighed, before adding. "It's _his_ name. We both hate each other, we're both wildly different, but we're still trapped inside this stupid body. Together."

"R-really?" Graves didn't believe him the slightest bit, but she still felt a bit sorry for him. After all, she'd hate being trapped with someone who hated her.

Mitchell didn't say anything, only looked away.

Along with the information she had gotten when Mitchell had first been admitted an hour ago, Nurse Graves had filled out a nice chart for her own disposal.

**Mitchell Quintana "Mistoffelees", "Quaxo"**

**Gender:** Male

**Age:** 19

**Birthday:** April 1st

**Height:** 5' 2"

**Hair:** Black

**Eyes:** Blue

She sighed and got up, tucking the notepad under her arm, and walking towards the door.

"Wait." Mitchell said, standing up.

"Yes?" She turned and raised her eyebrows.

"Just one question… when are the others coming?"

_Others?_


	2. Two pairs of twins

**I'm soso sorry for the huge delay! I went on vacation 3295874 miles away to see my extended family, and I forgot to save this file on a flash drive or something! D:**

**Well, anyway, a crap load of new people come in this chatper, and it seems really rushed... oh well.**

**Enjoy! :)**

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><p>"Hey, hands off." The girl slapped one of her escort's hands and walked to the front desk herself. She had blue eyes, like Mitchell, and long, white-blond hair.<p>

One of the men accompanying her told Nurse Graves that they were representing another psychiatric hospital in England and they had heard Thames' had a similar case to theirs. "We're hopin' you could take her as well." He had a thick Cockney accent.

The girl tapped him on the shoulder. "You talk like someone I know… I just can't… can't remember…" She held her hands over her ears, like she was trying to block out some horrible noise.

"Yes, of course." Graves said, taking out her notepad and uncapping a pen. "You will need to fill out this form, while I ask her some questions. Come here, love." Graves took her wrist and led her across the room to the chairs in the waiting area. "Name?"

"They," She pointed with her thumb at the two men, "tell me I'm Veronica Reynolds."

Nurse Graves wrote it down, before asking, "And I'm assuming you don't want to be called that?"

"Of course not. It's not my name." Veronica said. "My name is Victoria. Just like the queen."

"Yes, I see." Graves said, frowning slightly as she wrote down most of the other information.

X

**Veronica Reynolds "Victoria"**

**Gender:** Female

**Age:** 18

**Birthday:** October 5th

**Height:** 5' 4"

**Hair: **White-blond

**Eyes:** Blue

Along with the information Nurse Graves had gotten from the form that was required for Veronica's admission, she had completed a chart that was identical to Mitchell's.

Tucking the notepad under her arm, she took Veronica's arm and led her to Mitchell's room. They were going to share, since they had nearly identical delusions (dancing, strange names with no second part, personality change) and were around the same age.

When she opened the door, Veronica jumped in front of her, startling Mitchell. He turned, just as she said, "Is that really you?"

"Victoria?" He said in disbelief, standing up from the mattress. "Victoria, I never thought…!"

They ran towards each other and embraced, nuzzling strangely.

_Displayed fondness for each other despite having no previous contact. Know each other's preferred names, instead of their normal names._

_Animal-like tendencies._

"Okay, that's enough. Do you want me to move you two into different rooms?" Nurse Graves said after scribbling in her notepad. Veronica and Mitchell shyly moved apart. "Alright, that's better. Now, Veronica-"

"Don't call me that."

"Right, sorry, Victoria, you'll be sleeping in this bed. Breakfast is at nine, get up or don't eat. After that is group therapy until noon, when you will have lunch. At one, you'll go outside for forty-five minutes, then come inside to have individual therapy. When that's over at three, you can come inside the multi-purpose room until dinner. I'm sure Mitch… Quaxo can show you around."

"Mistoffelees."

"I don't mean to be rude, but how do I tell you apart?" Graves asked awkwardly.

"I'm hardly ever Quaxo." He replied, anger shadowing his face.

"So, then just Mistoffelees most of the time?" Nurse Graves confirmed.

"Most of the time. I don't like it when he's in control."

This statement left Graves uneasy, so she just smiled and left the room.

X

"Misto?" Victoria fiddled with her sheets, looking up at the ceiling. "Are you awake?"

Mistoffelees groaned, the springs in his bed creaking as he moved, and replied, "Am now."

"Sorry. It's just that… we're not crazy, are we?" She had obviously given this a lot of thought.

"Of course not, Tori. Everyone else just doesn't understand us." He sighed before adding, "It was weird, wasn't it?"

"I… what are you talking about?" Victoria asked, and edge of humor on her voice.

"It was like waking up from a long dream. You just… woke up, and you were in somebody else's bedroom, with their stuff, and their family and you felt so out of place and wrong."

"And they were calling you the wrong name, and… oh god, it was just horrible." She added, shuddering.

"But we're here now, together so at least that's better." Mistoffelees smiled, reaching his hand out toward her bed. "Hold my hand, will you?"

Victoria untangled her hand from the sheets and clasped it with his. She was still scared, no matter what, but this made it more bearable.

X

That night, Nurse Graves was sitting in front of her computer, the glare of the screen hurting her tired eyes.

She had received five other emails from psychiatric hospitals in England and one in Northern Ireland, all wanting to transport patients to Thames' because they matched Mitchell and Veronica. _Mistoffelees and Victoria,_ her mind corrected automatically.

She sent an email to her boss, wanting to transport all the other patients into other wards to focus more on the delusional ones that seemed to recognize one another.

_This is going to take a while._

X

Two more patients arrived on the same flight that morning. Nurse Graves checked them into a room and got their information from their escorts. One seemed somewhat grumpy, and the other was scolding her.

**Emily Topher "Electra"**

**Gender:** Female

**Age:** 17

**Birthday:** December 31st

**Height:** 5'3"

**Hair:** Dark Auburn

**Eyes:** Brown

**Mark Stride "Munkustrap"**

**Gender:** Male

**Age:** 32

**Birthday:** July 7th

**Height: **5'8"

**Hair:** Black, graying

**Eyes:** Green

They were given the same room and sent to the group therapy that Mitchell and Veronica were attending at the moment.

Nurse Graves opened the door, and the instructor stopped talking.

"'Lec!" Mistoffelees said, turning around, just as Victoria shouted, "Munk!"

Emily and Mark both sat down next to them, talking ferociously, until the instructor quieted them down.

"Do I have to intervene? Thank you."

X

The four patients were outside when Graves got two more patients from the airport. They were identical twins, tall and very quiet.

Graves asked for their forms and showed them to their room, her pen scribbling away on her notepad.

_Do not talk much._

_Share little smiles, like they are communicating non-verbally._

**Cole Patterson-Minks "Coricopat"**

**Gender:** Male

**Age:** 24

**Birthday:** September 17th

**Height:** 5'9"

**Hair:** Brown

**Eyes:** Dark Brown

**Trish Minks-Patterson "Tantomile"**

**Gender:** Female

**Age:** 24

**Birthday:** September 17th

**Height:** 5'7"

**Hair:** Brown

**Eyes:** Dark Brown

"You two can go eat now, everyone else is having lunch." Nurse Graves said, opening the door for them and leading them down to the cafeteria, where the rest of the patients were having split pea soup.

When they entered, Graves expected the usual reunion that had always happened previously: shouting, hugging, nuzzling, ect. Instead, the four patients turned when the door opened, saw the two new additions and all gave different reactions.

Mitchell gave a small pity smile, Veronica raised an eyebrow and went back to her soup, Mark smiled reassuringly at the twins and Emily gave a wide grin and pointed at the two seats next to her.

Graves sighed at kneeled down next to Veronica. "Victoria, why didn't you greet them like Mistoffelees or Electra?"

She gave a sniff and said, "They're weird… they can totally talk in each other's minds, and it's really freaky. The rest of us don't really talk to them much. Electra does, as you can see, but that's because no one really talks to her much either. Except Mistoffelees. He pities her, I think."

"Why doesn't anyone like to talk to them?" Graves asked, perplexed.

"Every one of us is born with a talent, right? Like, I can dance, Misto can do magic, Munk can lead, but _they don't really have any_."

"Wouldn't mind reading, or whatever, be considered a talent?"

"Yes, but we don't want to celebrate it, mind-reading is a sign of evil. We don't acknowledge it so they don't use it for evil." Veronica looked at her like this was obvious.

Nurse Graves finished writing on her notepad and stood up. "I see."

The arrival of another pair of twins echoed in the hallways of the empty hospital. "We are _heeeere!_"


	3. In which Munkustrap throws a fit

**Betcha didn't think I'd update this fast, huh? Well, I told you, I already had the last chapter written, I just had to publish it~**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Graves sighed. The outburst from the second pair of twins didn't sound like good news to her. She put on a smile, grabbed her notepad and walked out of the cafeteria. All the new arrivals were coming so fast, she had at least expected some down time to rest.<p>

The two new patients were standing in the lobby with five large men surrounding them. They looked harmless enough, smiling pleasantly, if not a bit mischievously, but from the looks of the bulges in their escort's chests not everyone agreed with her.

The twins each had strawberry-orange-blonde hair with black roots peeking out from their scalps. The girl was a short, petite little thing with no womanly figure to speak of, while the male was taller and more muscular. Without waiting for the five intimidating men, both of them started forward at the same time, extending their hands and saying "We're the notorious cat-burglars, Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer!"

"Hey, watch what yer doin' there." The largest escort nudged the girl. She gave him a glare, before turning back to Nurse Graves.

She smiled, uncapping her pen. "I'm going to have to ask you men to fill out a form for each of them, while I ask the questions." The largest man grunted and they walked over to the desk.

Graves could see they were from the 'bad' side of town… all seven of them had thick, Cockney accents. She assumed this what who Victoria was talking about when she mentioned someone she knew with an accent.

"What were your names again?" She asked politely.

They smiled wide, saying in unison, "The notorious Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer!"

"Which-" She started, only to be cut off.

"I'm Mungojerrie!" Said the male, while "_And _Rumpleteazer!" was said by the girl.

Graves wrote it down, before scribbling it out. "How do you spell that?"

Rumpleteazer spoke first. "I dunno… R-U-M-P-L-E-T-E-A-Z-E-R?"

"Alright," Graves wrote down the strange spelling. "And…?"

"M-U-N-G-O-J-E-R-R-I-E."

She quickly scribbled it, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sure it's not J-E-R-R-Y?"

"Positive." He smiled, using all his teeth and put an arm around Rumpleteazer's shoulders.

_Pointy teeth._

_Possible incest._

**Reagan Jacobson "Rumpleteazer"**

**Gender:** Female

**Age:** 22

**Birthday:** March 23

**Height:** 5'3"

**Hair:** Orange-blond, black roots

**Eyes:** Green

**Max Jacobson "Mungojerrie"**

**Gender:** Male

**Age:** 22

**Birthday:** March 23

**Height:** 6'0"

**Hair:** Orange-dark blond, black roots

**Eyes:** Brown

X

Munkustrap sighed. Mistoffelees had started a food fight with Victoria and Electra, and it was getting very messy (as lunch was mostly soup) and very out of control. The three women in charge of food were doing their best to stop it, but so far the three patients had ignored them. The twins, Coricopat and Tantomile were watching with amusement, and were showing no signs of wanting to stop the fight.

He stood up, a nerve twitching in his temple. The back of his head had started to pound and he knew he was going to have a horrible headache later.

Taking his near-empty bowl, Munkustrap brought his arm back and hurled it at the ground. It shattered, and the three patients throwing soup at each other paused and looked at him, as well as the food providers. "Will you all stop acting like _miscreants_?" Munkustrap started. "We are here under very grave circumstances and frankly as the only person here with the mind of an adult, and also as the _tribe Leader_, I am ordering you to act your age and not your shoe size!

"Throwing soup at each other is no way to lighten the situation! If you're upset about what happened, then at least you could talk about it before trying to act like it never happened! Now, I have an atrocious headache, with trying to figure out why we are like this and all, and I would very much appreciate it if you were quiet for the time being, as some people are trying to be mature about this!

"That being said, I want all of you to put down the bowls, go ask Nurse Graves for some cleaning supplies, clean up this mess and then spend the rest of the day _in your separate rooms_!"

Finished, Munkustrap was breathing heavily. "And… sorry about the bowl." One of the lunch women nodded.

Victoria spoke first after that, "You're… the Leader?"

The doors to the cafeteria slammed open, hitting the walls behind them. Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer took in the scene: split pea soup every where, Munkustrap standing very menacingly over the three covered in soup, a broken bowl on the floor, and five patients looking at Munkustrap, dumbstruck.

"Awkward…" Mungojerrie said, before the two of them strolled in, and took their own soup from the counter. Rumpleteazer stood above where Electra was sitting in a green puddle, while Mungojerrie took where Mistoffelees and Victoria stood. They both dumped their own soup on the others.

This was the last straw for Munkustrap. "I don't care that you two just got here, your little tricks will not be tolerated! As Leader, I shouldn't do this, but so help me if I see you pulling anything, I will punch you both in places you _will not forget!_

"Now, if only there was another person here with the brain of an even partially mature adult, I would be able to contain everyone!" He put his fingers up to his temple, and sat down again.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you won't be getting anyone even remotely mature for a while." Nurse Graves said from the doorway, notepad tucked under her arm and uncapped pen over her ear.

A tanned young man in his early twenties looked out from behind her. He had bright blue eyes and light brown hair. "Hey, big bro!" He said, waving, before smirking and showing a brand of the Sparm Brow reserved only to him. "And hello, Victoria."

**Robert Thorn "Rum Tum Tugger"** (at this point, he had snatched the notepad out of her hands and added 'THE' in front of it)

**Gender:** Male

**Age:** 24

**Birthday:** August 3

**Height:** 5'6

**Hair:** Light brown, blond highlights

**Eyes:** Blue

X

Just before Graves drifted off to sleep that night, she remembered something Reagan and Max had said.

"_Cat_-burglars?"


	4. Daddy!

**This one's a little short, but it can't be helped. Also, MAJOR cliffie. :D**

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><p>To say the least is to say that Mark was not happy to have his 'little brother' join them in the Thames. Almost every time Robert started, "Hey, big bro-" Mark would snap back, "I'm busy!", even if he was just moodily eating his fried egg and toast.<p>

This led Veronica and Emily to start avoiding Mark, as they both claimed something along the lines of, "He's not usually like this. I think Tugger just _got_ to him."

Trish and Cole started talking to him quietly, as if consoling him to act a bit friendlier towards Rob.

Reagan and Max kept going about and being sickeningly mischievous, and more than once Nurse Graves came across them in empty halls, only to find them doing nothing but talking with the occasional giggle.

Mitchell mostly stayed in his room, with _'fighting him'_ as his only excuse. Veronica wanted to go in to talk to him, but Mitchell wouldn't let her, and eventually Veronica ended up sharing a room with Robert, as Mark was with Emily, and the twins shared with their siblings.

Robert tried to stay out of Mark's way, but (more often than not, two or three times a day) he sometime's forgot and bounded up to him, with something or other that he was very excited about.

Finally, the last patient that had contacted Graves the night Veronica arrived had finally found a way to come and was going to arrive around lunchtime. Graves had decided to wait until he arrived to address them about the cat issue, as more of them had called themselves cats since Max and Reagan.

She entered the cafeteria, located Mark, and walked over to him. He was sitting moodily, staring at his plate and fiddling with a piece of paper in his hands. Graves sat down in the seat next to him and cleared her throat.

He looked up, scowling. "Hi," Mark started. "I guess you're wondering why I'm acting so weird." He sighed. "Well, I don't really like my little brother."

At this point Graves sighed as well. From their family records, Robert and Mark weren't the least bit related.

"He's so different from me. He's always a ladies man, and he always comes just to annoy me. And we used to be really close."

"Hey, it's alright." Graves said, awkwardly patting him on the back. "I'm sure if you give him a chance, you'll be close again."

He sniffed. Was he crying? "It's just… after Old Deuteronomy died, I've been under so much pressure," He looked at Nurse Graves, tear streaks staining his face. "He was the old leader, and our father. We have another brother, but…" He trailed off, looking once again at the paper in his hands.

Graves took it from him, and he didn't even put up a fight. It was scrawled in messy hand writing.

_Hey, bro. I dunno why you're acting like this but it's starting to really get to me. Remember the good times we had? Anyway, I hope you can talk to be or something. We're still brothers after all._

Mark sniffed again, one tear falling onto his lap. "I just don't have the heart to tell him that our father died."

From the looks of Mark's records, his biological father had died recently. Graves assumed that if he had been alive, he would have soon been in the same place as Mark and the rest of them.

"Why don't you wait until everyone is here, then announce it?" She suggested.

"I can't. That'd take too long. There's to many of us. I have to do it today." With that, Mark got up, without even drying his face, and sat down next to Robert.

Graves decided to sit down across from Emily, who was eating alone.

"You know what Victoria told me?" The nurse started.

Emily looked up, dripping spoon halfway to her mouth. "That I don't have a talent or some shit like that?"

"Oh… well, yes." Graves said, flustered.

"Don't believe her. No one is born with a stupid talent or whatever. She just doesn't like people who are different, I think. Like me and the twins. And about half the tribe." She paused, thinking. "Or maybe she just doesn't like me."

"I see." Graves said, scribbling on her notepad.

_Often mention a 'tribe'._

"Now, was it really necessary to make me take off my nail polish when I got here?" Emily said, showing Graves her bare nails. "I had just gotten this nice black stuff and your minions made me take it off."

Before she could answer, her beeper went off. "Oh, that must mean the last one is here early!" She got up and hurried out the door.

X

"He made us take the train." The newest addition's escort elbowed him, obviously annoyed.

The man had bright red hair, with a thin patch at the top of his head. He had a small goatee and a fuzzy mustache.

**Steve Stays "Skimbleshanks"**

**Gender:** Male

**Age:** 52

**Birthday:** December 2

**Height:** 5' 7'

**Hair:** Red, thinning

**Eyes:** Brown

Graves took him down to the cafeteria to have breakfast and meet the others.

_Victoria refers to Skimbleshanks as "Daddy!"_

X

Nurse Graves knocked on Mitchell's door to see if he was up for lunch, and, surprisingly, heard "Come in."

She entered, and almost dropped her notepad.

Mitchell was pacing, and had looked up when Graves entered. Another boy who looked around his age was sitting on one of the beds, and looked almost exactly like Mitchell, except he had brown hair only a little lighter than Mitchell's and light brown eyes.

"Wha… how did… Mitchell, did you sneak one of your friends in or something? I don't under… stand…" She sputtered.

"Well," Mitchell started, obviously annoyed that she didn't comprehend. "This is Quaxo."


	5. Well

**Another, really really short chapter with mostly only info. This is getting really annoying. I'm getting major writers block, so maybe I should just stick to oneshots and twoshots? I'm probably going to abandon this. I'm sorry. :(**

**This is turning into something that I did not want or think of. Holy hell.**

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><p>Nurse Graves was, to say the least, frazzled. With the arrival of Quaxo, she thought she might have gone insane. If what Mitchell told her about sharing the same body was true, then there was still the fact the Ouaxo seemed to just <em>pop out<em> of Mitchell. According to surveillance cameras, no one had entered Mitchell's room while he was locked inside, just Nurse Graves and Victoria talking to him through the door. The window was sealed shut.

To top it off, her notepad had gone missing, as well as several other small things. If you hadn't been as observant as Graves, you wouldn't have noticed a spoon missing here, a mug full of pens there. Victoria's hairbrush had also gone missing, and she was sullenly walking around with hair that made her look like she went around sticking forks in outlets. She was currently in a psyche ward, so that wasn't as improbable as it seemed.

Steve had been welcomed with very good reactions, as he was apparently a well respected person in their 'tribe'. It had almost slipped Nurse Graves' mind to talk to them about the cats issue.

Speaking of which, she was stationed on a steel balcony in the cafeteria during lunch to speak of it. "Attention, please."

All the current patients looked up at her with varying reactions.

"It has come to my attention that you refer to yourselves as cats." She was nervously capping and uncapping her pen against the railing. "And I would like to know why."

Always the leader, Mark stood up. He was doing much better since telling Robert and the rest of them about his father. "Before I say anything, please keep in mind that I would not like to be interrupted."

He cleared his throat and Graves nodded. "A very long time ago, before even proper civilization, the great goddess Bast, of Ancient Egypt, descended upon the earth. She created twenty-two figures out of sand, and brought them to life. Being the cat goddess, she made them the dominant species on earth, humans, but gave them cat features.

"At first, her spell did nothing. The sand stayed as still as… well, as still as sand. But over time, long after Bast had left, the wind eroded the sand away to reveal twenty-two fully-functional humans with cat features, magic written into their veins. Some were related, and some had no story at all.

"And here we are, the ten of us, standing before you." He gestured to all of the patients. Before Graves could object, he continued, "We are very respectable. The tribe has some… questionable members," He looked pointedly at the two orange-blond twins, "But we've traveled a long way to get here. Although, falling asleep and waking as another person, that has never happened to us before. In this situation, we are as clueless as you." He didn't sit back down, rather chose to remain standing.

For a moment, Graves could only stutter. "Now, working at a psyche ward, I have heard a lot of outrageous stories. I've seen the devil, and angel, a man who claimed to be doctor and went around diagnosing people, even a woman who claimed to be pregnant with God, but I have never heard of centuries-old people-cat hybrids, made by the Egyptian gods themselves. That is the most outrageous story I have ever encountered, and I want to make this clear: no matter what you do, I will never believe you."

This had been Graves' rule the entire time she'd worked there, ever since college. _Don't believe anything they say_, she'd tell herself. Over and over. But this time, she had no choice to believe, after what they showed her.

Silently, the rest of the patients stood up next to Mark. Mitchell smirked at Graves. Closing their eyes, all ten of them slowly transformed into… indescribable cats. They still looked vaguely like humans, but they had ears that moved around on their heads, fully functioning tails, and even furry patches.

Interrupting the silence, one of the lunch women screamed, dropping the ladle she had been holding.

Graves was stunned. At first, all she could do was stare at them, before Emily spoke up, her voice automatically rolling all the R's.

"Now do you believe us? Geez woman, you'd think at least a part of you would believe anything Munk says."

X

Nurse Graves was very, very, tired. It was almost four in the morning, and she hadn't slept a wink. She was trying to find other psyche wards with patients similar to hers, while simultaneously deleting anything published on the Thames' website, or even in her online notes or anything she'd typed that gave away the patient's large secret.

She had sent them to their rooms after their big showing, and locked herself in her office to sort this out. Currently, Graves had found six of the remaining twelve patients, and had contacted the hospitals about their removal. Surely they would be interested in another ward specifically for them? Her patients would not rest until everyone was with them.

He bangs her sticking to her forehead, and she nervously shoved them out of the way.

This was going to take a while.


	6. And all the rest of 'em

**Soo.**

**Hi again.**

**It looks like I'm not abandoning this.**

**I did something the other day. Something I've NEVER done before. I wrote a story outline for the rest of this freaking fic.**

**Oh, god. This is sooo stressful. I'm prolly gonna have shorter chapters with longer spaces in-between. This one is especially short.**

**AND: check out my new contest! I just have to get permission from N e k o S o d a to use her OC contest, and then you'll be able to submit and OC to appear in this here story!**

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><p>Over the course of the next week, almost all the remaining patients across the UK and northern Europe had been contacted and had scheduled flights. So many new additions had been arriving that Nurse Graves had been neglecting to make organized charts for them. In fact, her stack of papers substitution for her missing notepad was anything but organized. There were names and pronunciations and flight times scribbled everywhere, and anything the so-called 'Jellicles' (<em>with<em> a _capital!_) had told her about the tribe had a nice box drawn around it amid everything else.

On Monday alone, three patients had arrived, all teenage boys. They preferred to be called 'Plato', 'Tumblebrutus', and 'Pouncival'. Graves had gotten so used to these names the she automatically called each patient the right name out of many, even in her head. She had also started requesting new patients to change into cats to make sure they weren't lying. All three of them were rowdy, boisterous, and very much perverted. They hung out with Mistoffelees, Victoria and Electra. Pouncival and Tumblebrutus told everyone that they had a 'rad bromance'. Plato tried to hold Victoria's hand before a nurse had to split them up.

On Tuesday, two young girls and a man who looked about twenty-five were flown in. They insisted their names were Jemima, Alonzo and Etcetera. Jemima seemed to be good friends with Victoria, Etcetera and Electra, and apparently there were no other members of their little clique; they told Graves it was complete. Alonzo stayed near Munkustrap, and they were almost always discussing something or other. Etcetera was strange. Besides the fact that her name was Etcetera, Tugger seemed to flirt with her the most, and she was always asking for a kiss.

By Wednesday, two more women arrived from the same hospital. Their cat names were Demeter and Bombalurina. They claimed to be sisters, and when Graves asked about their other family, Bombalurina, the more social one of them, spat out that they had a mother, but she was gone now.

"She was a shitty mother anyway." She glared at Nurse Graves when she said that.

Demeter spoke softly. "When she was at work, we used to go through her makeup bag and try it all on. Then when she came home she would just laugh and wash it off."

Bombalurina's gaze softened whenever she looked at her sister. "Her name was Grizabella. She left us, when I was ten. Then she came back nine years later. What a horrible person, right?"

"Always begging us to forgive her." Demeter added. "I never did."

Bombalurina was hanging around Tugger whenever she wasn't with her sister, and Demeter was always by the side of Munkustrap. Nurses caught both pairs kissing.

On Thursday morning, a large group of seven teenagers arrived. Graves didn't remember contacting anyone about them, but got their information. They were called George, Bill Bailey, Carbucketty, Victor, Admetus, Sillabub, and Exotica. Just before she let them in, she remembered to ask them to change for her to make sure they were telling the truth.

"The… change?" Sillabub asked.

"Yeah, what change?" Carbucketty added.

Nurse Graves sighed. "I'm not letting you in. The real patients can change into cats."

Before he could stop himself, George shouted, "That's so cool!"

"Way to blow our cover, Ian." Exotica whispered.

"Wha… oh." George/Ian looked crestfallen.

"Out you go." Nurse Graves shooed them away.

After they had left, Graves received three more patients. Two were middle-aged women, and the third was younger. They were Jellylorum, Jennyanydots and Cassandra. Jenny and Jelly were always talking to each other and scolding the younger ones. Cassandra was vain and didn't talk to anyone much, but she did seem to like Bombalurina.

With almost all of the rooms on the westward wing filled, Graves didn't think she could handle anymore patients.


	7. And the plot thickens

**IT'S SO SHORT I'M GONNA DIE! I'm sorry x**

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><p>That was changed, however, when she started to research her patients. First, typing in their cat name only brought up a Wikipedia page about a musical. Typing their human names into the search bar brought up facebook profiles, newspaper articles, and people searches. However, on the seventh page of a search for 'Mark Stride, Munkustrap', that there was a website that blared in capitals "HAVE YOU SEEN THESE PEOPLE?" in a blinding shade of red across it's homepage. It listed the human and cat names of each patient, along with an accurate picture. Some were up close, mug shot style, while others were father away and blurry, as if taken from the other side of a window, or hastily shot while they were getting on the bus.<p>

The man who provided contact information had a strange name: Mac Ceasars. Nurse Graves was strongly reminded of the patients at hand. Thinking they would want to know what she was doing, she pulled the website up on a large projector in the cafeteria.

When the patients came in, each of them looked at it, then at his information, and didn't seem too fazed. Once they had all sat down with that days lunch, chili and cornbread, she climbed onto the big platform and opened her extendable pointer with an air of dignity.

Tapping the wall the website was projected on, she addressed the crowd, "Do any of you recognize his name or information?"

Alonzo spoke up. "As the Protector," he seemed to find every moment he could to remind everyone of that fact, "I don't know him. But why would he be looking for us?"

Another respected voice in the tribe spoke as well. "I can see why people would want to track down _some_ of us," Skimbleshanks looked pointedly at the two red-haired twins, "but _all_ of us?"

"Yeah, and how does he know our names?" Jemima asked.

Munkustrap tentatively drew everyone's attention, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Well, there is one other who knows our names…"

Cassandra gasped. "No… you don't think?"

Jellylorum shushed them. "There is no need to talk of such things please, let us discuss it later." She looked as if someone was about to burst in the door at any moment.

"Let's see his picture!" Etcetera shouted, before abandoning her half-eaten chili and bounding over to the computer. In a matter of seconds, she had brought up the website founder's picture.

All twenty-one patients gasped simultaneously.

The man had a mane of ginger hair with black low lights shoddily dyed in, and red-rimmed, tired eyes that nonetheless looked frightening. It looked as if he spent his days lodged in front of a computer screen, or else in a dark basement somewhere.

Jennyanydots spoke first, to Graves. "Whatever you do, do not contact him. He was created with us, he just turned… crazy when Bast stopped giving him powers.

Nurse Graves decided not to ask, and closed her computer. "I'll take that into consideration."

X

Later that night, in the glow of her computer screen, Graves paced her office. The mysterious man needed to be 'treated' with the other patients, and if someone found him, he'd have to be turned in anyway. He might even be able to help with hiding them or something. With only a bit of reason to contact him, Graves picked up the phone and called the number.

X

Early in the morning, when all of the current patients and Nurse Graves were sleeping, the man opened the door, four followers in tow. No one woke up, he could tell, so he slammed the door loudly.

He chuckled, smirking when he heard Demeter scream. There was a flurry of noise and the patients got up, and Graves came running into the lobby in a bathrobe. Her eyes widened when she took in the sight of him. The four figures standing behind him were a tall guy with sandy-blond hair, a short brunette with brown eyes, another girl with tan skin and dark brown hair, and a nervous-looking girl with blond hair with black streaks.

"I'm Macavity." He said.


	8. Even more so

**IT. IS. HERE. Jeez, I so don't want to write. Uggh. Only two more chapters left, about.**

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><p>The new patient proved to be more than a handful. His 'mates', most of them anyway, seemed to be used to his antics, seemingly forgetting to watch if he tried something, and for the most part being perfectly polite to Nurse Graves. All twenty-one or so of the other patients refused to stay near Macavity, so Graves gave him and his company two rooms on the unoccupied wing of the ward. Demeter especially would shriek loudly if Macavity was within a five meter radius of her (which he was often), even if she couldn't see him. She more like <em>felt <em>him. However, the light haired woman was cordial to The Company when he wasn't with them, even talking to the four and sympathizing.

Her sister, Bombalurina, had a different reaction to Macavity. Every time he was close to her or Demeter, she would start to yell things so fast and so loud that they muddled together and the Nurse could only pick out certain words and phrases. Mostly she insulted him, with things like, "Jerk!" and "Asshole!" and "Cuntface!" The longest sentence Graves could decipher was, "You little whore, you go off being such a gentleman only to just break her, she'll never be the same ever again after what you and Griz did! I can't believe you would show your face around here again, do you know what I'm going to do to you once I get over there-" Before about seven nurses had to restrain the redhead, who looked like she was about to claw Macavity's eyes out. She and Munkustrap were the only ones he seemed to be afraid of.

In the early hours of a pleasant Thursday, the oldest patients were just waking up. Jellylorum, Jennyanydots, Skimbleshanks and for some reason Jemima was just going to bed.

There was a colossal BOOM that rocked the hospital ward, and everyone who wasn't already up was woken very rudely. There seemed to be only a second before there were sirens wailing around the hospital, helicopter blades churning the air with camera crews inside, patients screaming and crying and police officers roaming around asking questions. The entire wing Macavity and Co. resided in had a huge crater in it with thick purple smoke wafting up from the wreckage. Firefighters tried endlessly to enter, to search for bodies and recover evidence or anything they could salvage, but whenever they ran into the smoke there was a bouncing sound and they were flung out again, coughing.

Suddenly, Macavity's dry voice resounded around the property. "Greetings, citizens of London." There was a roar of confusion from the firefighters and other official people. "This is the mayor speaking. I'm floating above you in a rainbow hot air balloon."

Almost everyone who didn't know better looked up at the sky, which was clear except for the helicopters. "Just kidding, gotcha. I'm not really the mayor. I'm talking to you from inside the hospital ward, inside this nice purple smoke."

There was a muffled sound and everyone heard the stifled whimpering of another patient. Nurse Graves recognized it as one of Macavity's Company.

"I have here one of my mates. Zemie." Macavity laughed, turning it into a cough halfway through. "Damn smoke." He muttered.

"Anyway, she's gagged here, and tied to the leg of a bed, as the nursing staff was kind enough to provide me with some nice sturdy gauze." You could practically hear the smile in his voice. "I just thought I'd let you know so you can rescue her. You know, before the next one of my bombs goes off."

There was another muffled sound, before Macavity whined, "Damn, Cosmo!"

The male of The Company's voice came on. "Hi there, I'm Cosmo. I'd just like to say that in order so save her, just walk. Oof!"

Macavity's voice came on again. "Oh, Cosmo, you jokester." He gave a forced laugh. "No, run as fast as you can to save her, you puny humans! Run! Fast!" His voice was father away now. "Cosmo, you just ruined our fun. For that I'm going to have to _whip _you, and maybe I'll even-" The loudspeaker cut off abruptly.

The firefighters approached the purple smoke slowly. One ran in again, and was flung back out just like the other times. Another, presumably more smart, slowly walked in and didn't come back out. There was a shout of triumph and the others fallowed his lead.

When they came back out again, one was carrying Zeminabub in his arms. She flung her hand to her chest and proclaimed, "Oh, my savior!" before smiling nervously.

Another fireman was holding the lanky Macavity by the scruff of his neck, who was grinning widely, and Cosmo and the two other girls in The Company walked out by themselves.

X

The wing Macavity and Co. once stayed was closed for now, so they stayed under careful eyes in five padded rooms all to themselves. However, they came out into the cafeteria for meals, so Graves turned on one of the large TVs hanging on the wall and flicked through the news channels.

"Do you see what you did?" Each one of them was broadcasting something about the hospital, weather it be "Mysterious Explosion Uncovers Unexplained Patients at Thames Hospital" or "Mentally Disabled Patients at Thames Hospital Experiencing Same Extreme Delusion" or "Explosion Rocks News about Odd Patients at Thames". Whatever they were about, it always revolved around the patients and their 'delusion' or the unexplained explosion.

Macavity only grinned wider, while Bombalurina fumed quietly with a nurse holding her back. "It just means one thing." He said. "Now we won't be a secret. We'll be all over the news, and that's only one of the steps I have to take before I will be able to use the combined power of all the human minds in London. I will channel that power, until I rival even Bast. Then I will destroy that ungrateful catbitch and get all my magic back."

The Company looked the other way.


	9. She's back

**Finally. This chapter might be a little confusing, so if you don't understand something just ask me or what have you.**

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><p>Almost everyday now, there was a hoard of reporters clouding the windows and doors of the Thames Psychiatric Ward. Whenever Graves left, she had to wrestle her way out, ignoring questions like, "Do you think your patients will ever be cured?", "What has the explosion done the future of the hospital?" and "What is your opinion on vegetarianism?" She almost turned around at that one, but thought better of it and kept going.<p>

About a week after the big shebang of Macavity's explosion, Nurse Graves was taking the front desk for an hour while the patients had group therapy. Suddenly, the crowd of reporters she could see from the desk parted as a woman in huge heeled boots walked to the doors. She had a large mouth and white-blonde hair (much like Victoria's) that was tied back in a tight bun, so Graves couldn't tell how long it was.

When the woman stopped at the door, she turned to answer a reporter. The Nurse could hear a thick, forced Italian accent, "Yes, I'm from a ward in Italy. I'm here to take the patients for specialized treatment."

She opened to door, smiled widely at Graves and took her wrist, leading her into an empty conference room. She tucked her lace skirt under her legs as she sat down, resting her elbows on the table. Graves was too stunned to do anything.

"Sit down, sit down." The woman smiled again, gesturing to the seat across from her. Her accent was gone, rather she started talking in the peculiar way the rest of the patients did.

Although Graves did not appreciate being told to sit down in her own workplace, she grudgingly sat. "Are you really taking them to another ward?"

The woman laughed too loudly. "Of course not." She adjusted her lipstick with a finger before continuing. "My name is Griddlebone. I'm Jelly's and Skimble's big sister, and Tumble's mother.

"Back when we had just migrated to England," Graves suspected this was going to be a long story, "I fell in love with a human. He was a bit of a rebel, and he was also the captain of a ship, which still sails the Thames today. Anyway, I was exiled from the tribe and I went to live with him with my son, Tumble on his ship. What a good ship it was, too."

She zoned out for a little, before resuming. "Anyway, like all humans, he died. I couldn't come back to the tribe, Tumble could, so I went to Italy. I've actually come to take all of these here patients, minus Macavity, back with me, and eventually we'll be spread out over Europe. We meet every two months or so in Rome. We'll pose as regular old humans, etcetera, and hide our nice secret. We'll never let anything like this," Griddlebone gestured around the hospital, "Happen again."

Under the aid of Griddlebone, who could strangely use magic with her singing voice, all twenty one of the patients Graves originally had were secretly put on a plane to Rome where they would meet up with Griddle again. First, she had the issue of Macavity and Co. to take care of.

Griddlebone and Nurse Graves couched in the dark hallway between the five rooms holding the last five patients. Griddlebone had her eyes closed and was humming a wavering tune. "Yes… I remember how it goes now." She muttered, before looking up at Graves. "Ready?"

Graves nodded. Griddlebone took a deep breath before letting it out and explaining to Graves, "This little tune will turn them back into the nice submissive humans they were before the change. Alternatively, it will also turn any Jellicles under the 'human' spell back into themselves."

As Griddlebone sang, Graves could hear as a few of the patients woke up at the noise, but the noise of their confusion soon stopped. As she continued the song with her high, opera-like voice, Graves could barely keep her eyes open. She slipped into a metaphorical stream, easing under the warm water. She couldn't get up again.

Griddlebone's song stopped, and Graves could faintly hear her voice. "Nurse? Nurse Gra- Oh my."

X

When the nurse woke, she was laying on a bed in a white room. She couldn't remember anything since… the last thing she remembered was standing on a large tire watching as her beloved Deuteronomy stood below her, getting farther and farther away.

The door opened.

"Griddlebone, what's going on? Where's Old Deuteronomy?" She asked, sitting up abruptly. Her head ached.

Griddlebone smiled, handing her a glass of water and an Aspirin. "You've been through a lot, Grizabella. Let me explain."

X

Twenty-one fashionably dressed people stood, ages ranging from seventeen to fifty-four waiting for a (albeit exiled) part of their family to come from her plane.

Mark had received a phone call the previous day in his hotel room from Griddlebone (or Gina), and she had not talked long. She had just told him that she was coming the next day, and when she did she personally requested that he hold Bombalurina (or Rebecca) away from her. He moved closer to his brother, who was standing on the other side of Becca.

Amidst the people coming off Gina's plane, two figures walked toward them. Just after Munkustrap recognized them, Becca's shoulders tensed and he grabbed a hold of her arms before she could lash out at Grizabella. For the sake of everyone else at the airport, she stayed silent, but glared daggers at Grizabella.

Gina spoke first. "Let me introduce a new and improved Miss Bailey Graves." Because most of the humans at the airport spoke Italian or Spanish, she added, "Grizabella."


	10. Epilogue

**OMG IT'S THE END OF AN ERA. Jeez, no it's more like the end of an error. Anyway, I don't think I've ever finished a story this long that was actually GOOD. I feel so proud of myself! :D**

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><p>After hours of sifting through everything Griddlebone had planned through (on various notebooks and a large poster board for some reason) in a large hotel room, the tribe had finally gotten everything sorted for their departure from Italy to various places in Europe. The Jellicles that could afford it would meet in Rome, where they currently were, every three months for an update. For those that couldn't, they would be updated by email, parts in code for protection. If anyone suspected that a human was aware of their secret, they would immediately report to Griddlebone, who would handle the changing of their name and location. Language wasn't an issue, as whenever a Jellicle changed host countries, they automatically were able to speak in that language.<p>

The twins Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer would move to a quaint flat in Finland, while Coricopat and Tantomile chose a large blue house on the shore of Portugal. Rum Tum Tugger, fittingly, liked a small apartment in Paris, and Bombalurina was stationed to live across town.

Etcetera and Electra started renting a red house in Germany that looked like was being taken over by the plants in the front yard, as Griddlebone wanted the kittens to stay together. Likewise, Mistoffelees and Victoria took a boathouse in Greece, while Quaxo, Jemima and Pouncival shared a renovated firehouse in the downtown Warsaw, Poland. Plato moved into a mansion that was much too big for him in Slovakia.

Cassandra dragged Alonzo into living with her in Austria, while Munkustrap took a house in Russia with Demeter. Skimbleshanks and Jennyanydots chose a snug house in Switzerland, while Jellylorum lived alone in Belgium. Grizabella went the same way and lived alone in an apartment in Lithuania. Last of all, Tumblebrutus moved into Rome, so he could reunite with his mother, Griddlebone.

And our story ends on a sweet note: One fine day in late November, Grizabella (or Gabriella) was watering the flowers on her balcony when she saw I figure standing on the parking lot below her. He was rather large, and he had a fluffy gray beard, out of which his two sparking eyes peeked out from. Gabriella dropped her watering can.

"Old Deuteronomy?"


End file.
